Jose Mourinho in double swipe at ’lucky’ Manchester City

Jeremy Wilson

Jose Mourinho appeared to launch a two-pronged attack on Manchester City on Friday when he claimed that they had got ‘‘lucky’’ with refereeing decisions and described some clubs as being ‘‘dodgy’’ in respect of financial fair play.

Unsurprisingly, Mourinho did not name specific clubs regarding Uefa’s financial fair play regulations but, in a press conference to preview Monday’s match with City, one of his main targets seemed obvious.

"The reality is they have many crucial decisions in their favour": Jose Mourinho Manchester City's fortunes. Photo: Reuters

City posted losses on Wednesday of £51.6 million for the 2012-13 accounting year, down from £97.9 million, which in turn was down from £197.5 million in 2010-11. They remain adamant that they will meet UEFA’s FFP regulations which, although complicated by various clauses and exceptions, are supposedly underpinned by the principle that clubs should not spend more than they earn.

Mourinho expressed his expectation that Chelsea’s rivals would all seek to improve during the summer and then, without prompting, added: ‘‘Independent of that, some clubs are feeling FFP as a fair FFP, and some others are feeling FFP as a dodgy FFP. Independent of that, next pre-season, day one, I will say Chelsea are a candidate to win the Premier League. We are not favourites to win any competition this season. The speech will change completely next pre-season.’’

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Despite Mourinho’s repeated attempt to downplay Chelsea’s chances this season, they are still only three points adrift of a City team who, he claims, have also benefited from a series of refereeing decisions.

‘‘I think they have everything,’’ said Mourinho. ‘‘Everything. The players are obviously very good. Even with very good players, if the manager is not good, you don’t do it. On top of that - and I want to make it very clear that, for me, it’s just a coincidence and nothing else - the reality is they have many crucial decisions in their favour. They are lucky. Against Liverpool, the Sterling ’goal’. The penalty on Suarez. Against Newcastle, the goal that is a clear goal. Against Tottenham, Dawson’s goal, the penalty and the red card. They are having everything. I repeat: just pure coincidence. But at the moment they have everything in their favour.’’

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Mourinho, though, was still mocking of Tim Sherwood’s assertion after City’s 5-1 demolition of Tottenham that they ‘‘are the best team on the planet’’. The self-styled ’Special One’ replied: ‘‘Maybe, for the Tottenham manager, the planet is England. You will see in the Champions League. You will see in a couple of months.’’

After his claim that West Ham United had been guilty of ‘‘19th century football’’ in their goalless draw against Chelsea on Wednesday, Mourinho is adamant that his team must attack on Monday.

His philosophy, it would seem, has been framed by his long rivalry with Barcelona while managing Inter Milan and then Real Madrid. It was certainly noticeable that, when Chelsea faced the similarly imposing threat of Bayern Munich in the European Super Cup, Mourinho allowed his team to take risks with rapid counter-attacks. He doubts whether a goalless draw is feasible.

‘‘City score goals,’’ said Mourinho. ‘‘When your approach is very defensive, if you concede a goal, you are in trouble and have to make changes during the game. We’re not going to change our philosophy. We’re going to try to win knowing perfectly we can lose or draw.’’

What was a surprisingly busy transfer window at Chelsea ended yesterday with the pounds 12.5?million purchase of 19-year-old centre-back Kurt Zouma from St Etienne. Although Zouma will remain in France until the end of the season, Mourinho explained that it had been necessary to complete the transfer yesterday to fend off competition this summer for one of Europe’s highest rated teenagers.

He also strongly hinted that a deal was already being lined up for a striker this summer, thought to be Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa.

‘‘In almost every position we have the present and also the future, so well done Chelsea,’’ said Mourinho.

‘‘We are preparing next season much more than this season. We don’t sign a striker now as an emergency plan to score half a dozen goals to give us half a dozen points extra. People don’t understand why we didn’t do anything. But in the summer you will understand why. We just know basically what we want, and we know what we want was impossible to get in this transfer window.’’

Fernando Torres will miss Monday’s match as he recovers from his knee injury, while Mohamed Salah is unlikely to feature due to a lack of recent matches.